Emerging Non-Thermal Technologies for Sustainable Food Preservation and Functionalization: From Molecular Mechanisms to Industrial Applications

The increasing demand for safe, nutritious, minimally processed, and sustainable foods has accelerated the development of emerging non-thermal technologies for food preservation and functionalization. Technologies such as cold plasma, high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, ultraviolet irradiation, and ionizing irradiation enable microbial and enzymatic inactivation under mild thermal conditions, thereby helping to retain heat-sensitive nutrients, flavors, colors, and bioactive compounds. Beyond preservation, these technologies can be strategically employed to modify the molecular, structural, and physicochemical characteristics of food components, including proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, and bioactive compounds, to enhance properties such as solubility, emulsification, gelation, digestibility, stability, and bioavailability.A key focus of this research area is establishing relationships between processing parameters, molecular-level mechanisms, and resulting functional properties. Mechanisms such as microbial membrane disruption, electroporation, reactive species generation, protein unfolding and aggregation, oxidation, depolymerization, and structural rearrangement determine the effectiveness and functionality of non-thermal treatments. A mechanistic understanding is therefore essential for developing targeted and reproducible processing strategies.Importantly, the transition from laboratory-scale research to industrial implementation requires evaluation of energy efficiency, process scalability, equipment integration, product quality, safety, regulatory compliance, and economic feasibility. This field consequently encompasses both fundamental mechanistic studies and application-oriented process development, supporting the design of sustainable preservation systems, functional ingredients, clean-label foods, and next-generation food manufacturing processes.Despite substantial advances in non-thermal food processing, a critical gap remains in the connection between molecular-level mechanisms and functional performance, process optimization, and industrial scalability. Many studies have demonstrated that technologies such as cold plasma, high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, irradiation, and ultraviolet treatment can improve microbial safety and modify food components; however, the relationships between processing parameters, molecular and structural changes, nutritional quality, functionality, and long-term stability are still insufficiently understood. Furthermore, differences in equipment configurations, treatment conditions, food matrices, and analytical approaches often limit meaningful comparison and reproducibility across studies.This collection will address these challenges by asking: How do emerging non-thermal technologies induce molecular and structural changes in food components? How can these mechanisms be controlled to simultaneously achieve microbial safety, nutritional preservation, and targeted functionalization? Which processing parameters and technological combinations provide optimal quality, energy efficiency, and scalability? Moreover, what barriers must be overcome for successful industrial implementation?This is an opportune time to address these questions because recent advances in plasma engineering, high-pressure systems, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound-assisted processing, advanced spectroscopy, omics, molecular modeling, and artificial intelligence/data-driven process optimization are enabling deeper mechanistic understanding and more precise process control. Together, these developments create an opportunity to move non-thermal technologies from promising laboratory-scale approaches toward predictable, sustainable, and commercially viable food-processing solutions.This Research Topic, “Emerging Non-Thermal Technologies for Sustainable Food Preservation and Functionalization: From Molecular Mechanisms to Industrial Applications,” aims to bring together recent advances in the fundamental mechanisms, technological development, food applications, sustainability, safety, and industrial translation of emerging non-thermal processing technologies. Particular emphasis will be placed on studies that establish links between process parameters, molecular and structural changes, microbial/enzyme inactivation, physicochemical properties, nutritional quality, bioactive retention, techno-functional characteristics, and final food performance. The scope also extends to emerging technologies and combinations that contribute to sustainable food preservation, extraction, modification, encapsulation, formulation, and functionalization. Specific themes include:• Emerging and advanced non-thermal food processing technologies, including high-pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric fields (PEF), ultrasound-assisted processing, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), plasma-activated water (PAW), ultraviolet (UV-C/UV-LED), pulsed light, ionizing irradiation, electron beam, ozone treatment, hydrodynamic cavitation, high-pressure homogenization, membrane-based processing, and related emerging technologies. • Non-thermal food preservation and shelf-life extension • Molecular and structural mechanisms underlying microbial inactivation and food-component modification• Non-thermal-assisted valorization of food waste and by-products • Non-thermal modification of food macromolecules, including proteins, starch, polysaccharides, dietary fibers, lipids, and protein–polysaccharide complexes • Hybrid and synergistic non-thermal technologies • Effects of non-thermal processing on nutritional, physicochemical and sensory quality• Industrial-scale implementation and process scale-up • Techno-economic and environmental assessment • Non-thermal processing for novel and next-generation foods • Future perspectives and emerging innovations in non-thermal food processingManuscript types welcomed: Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Mini-Review, Perspective, Brief Research Report, and Data Report. Topic editors: Srutee Rout, Soubhagya Tripathy Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85898/emerging-non-thermal-technologies-for-sustainable-food-preservation-and-functionalization-from-molecular-mechanisms-to-industrial-applications